Director Niels Arden Oplev Talks FLATLINERS Remake and Directing the Pilot for UNDER THE DOME

The conveniently-timed recent announcement that director Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) would be helming a remake of Joel Schumacher’s 1990 thriller Flatliners (that originally starred Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt and Billy Baldwin) meant that we could get an update directly from him while at the press day to talk about his next theatrical release, Dead Man Down.

While we will run what he had to say about that film closer to its March 8th release date, we did want to share what he had to say about his involvement with the Flatliners remake, why he’s intrigued by the project, and what made him want to direct the pilot for the CBS adaptation of the Stephen King novel, Under the Dome, about an invisible force field descends upon a small town in the northeastern part of the United States. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Question: A story just broke that you’ll be directing a Flatliners remake. Is that true?

NIELS ARDEN OPLEV: Well, there are negotiations going on about that. I don’t know who the hell broke that story. It’s an interesting project and I’m intrigued. It’s also quite a challenge because the film that’s already been done was a cult classic. That’s too early to talk about, but it’s definitely exciting. It’s an exciting option that’s being negotiated.

What appealed to you about Under the Dome, and what do you like about establishing the aesthetic for a series by directing the pilot?

OPLEV: It is cool to make a pilot because you get to do all the fun stuff, and then you get to leave when all the tough stuff starts. That was really a project I couldn’t say no to because the Stephen King novel is a fabulous novel and the script was really good and [Steven] Spielberg is producing. It was just something I couldn’t say no to.